No sweet seduction

High prices of sugar, milk, ghee will ensure that even one box of mithai will pinch your wallet

High prices of sugar, milk, ghee will ensure that even one box of mithaiu00a0will pinch your wallet

This Diwali, gorging on your favourite sweets comes with a steep price tag.

Mithaiwallahs across the city have hiked the prices of their products, as the cost of the raw materials sugar, ghee and milk has risen by almost 20 per cent over last year.

Lower profits

Budhakaka Halwawala store at Mahim, famous for its Mahim halwa, has hiked prices by almost 30 per cent. Last year, they sold halwa for Rs 300 per kg, but this year, it's Rs 400 per kg.

Owner Ramchandra Joshi said, "Escalating costs have been a real problem. (See box). We can't hike our prices to match the costs, but we have raised them a little, so that our profits aren't entirely wiped out."

Sweet Nothings: A few shops in the city have hiked its price by as much as 30 per cent this Diwali.

Rashi Anand, who runs a chocolate business, said, "A slab of chocolate in the wholesale market costs
Rs 250 now, which is 20 per cent more than last year.

Also, most of the wholesalers didn't even have the ingredients till 10 days ago. So I was unable to take orders, as I couldn't be sure I would be able to deliver," said Anand, who has hiked prices by 20 per cent.

No shortage

Pradeep Jain, general secretary of the Mumbai Sweetsellers Association, said that in the case of items like sugar, prices have doubled. "Thankfully, we haven't faced a shortage or else we would have been badly hit," said Jain.

Buyers' speak

Yogesh Mehta, a stockbroker from Irla, said, "We usually buy 30 kg of sweets for the staff in our family business.

But this year, we are offering them chocolates instead." Anuradha Kumar from Goregaon said, "Every year, we would buy around 2 kg ofu00a0 kaju barfi, but this year, we opted for the cheaper alternative of laddoo."

Rise in costs

Product	2009	2008
Sugar	Rs 32/kg	Rs 17/kg
Ghee	Rs 250-275/kg	Rs 190-215/kg
Milk	Rs 36-38/litre	Rs 28-30/litre